Rail-anchor.



HENnYjGjELFBonG, OF cHiCAGo, ILLINOIS, AssrGNon 'ro AJAX nArpnN'cHon ooMPANY, or cHIcAGo, ILLINoIs, A CORPORATION or DELAWARE.

RAIL-ANCHOR` -Speccation of Letters Patent.

Application ill-ed December 7 1915. Serial No. (15,475.

To alZVw/Lomit may concern.'

Be it known -that I, HENRY G. ELFBORG,

a. citizen of the'UnitedSt-ates, residing at Chicago,' in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have `invented certain new and useful 'Improvements in Rail-Anchors, 4of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to rail anchors, and

has for its object to provide a simple and 10 iinpro\'ed' device for preventing 'longitudr nal creeping of railway rails relative to the ties. Many forms of such devices are now known, some-of which are efficient` but most of them embody bulky and more or less i5 complicated structures, which. are corre# spondingly expensive to manufacture.

The particular object of thev present invention is to provide a, rail anchor which combines the advantages of strength and efficiency in operation with economy of manufacture. y

To this lend I liave."prf}'vided a device I which. in the embodiment. illustrated comprises tivo members of simple form and der' sign, one-of which-is adapted to engage a rail and eoact with a tie, while the other is adapted to coact with the first-'namedV member to effect a gripping of tliebasejof the rail. The. coactingclements of the de.-

vice will not only e-'fl'ect firm and eilicient gripping of the rail `hase wheniirst assembled thereon,V but .they continue to exert efficient gripping act-ion after continued use, for -the reason that said elements are so interlocked that separatioiithereof, or

relative .movement thereof lo tudinaliy o the rail, is prevented` In thi 'way I overcome the tendency -`in many rail anchors, which embody two coasting elements, of

40 one ci theelements to separate fromV the other upon expansion of the rail, or upon movementvof the'A rail in'an opposite direction t0 that in which the rail normally tends to creep, and in which direction movement is intended to be prevented by the rail anchor.

These and other objects of the invention will be set forth more clearly in the iiollo w ing specification7 takenin connection with the accompanying drawings, in which two embodiments of' the invention are illustrated.

In the draiifiiigs7-Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved rail anchor sembled on e railway rail; Z is a per member.

.member A, as

spective view of the main or abutment member 'shown in Fig.- 1; Fig. '3 is a perspective view of thesecondary or wedge member shown in Fig; 1'; Fig. 4 is aneleration of the rails'anehor assembled` on' the rail; Fig. 5 is a. topplan view of the main or abutment member of the rail'anchor; Fig. G is a perspective view of a modified form of the main or Fig. 7 is a plan view of the'blank from which the member shown in Figa-.6 is formcd; and Fig. '8 isa side elevation of a modified form vof secondary orwedge Referring to the drawings,'my invention is shown as comprisingr a main oit-abutment member A, and a secondary orwedge'inember B, tlieformer' of which comprises .la plate l0 adapted to underlieand extend transversely of-tthe base ofthenail .111, :ind

an lip-turned lip .or vjaw 12 formed"inteabutment member tooverlie and engageonueedge .11l of the rail base leal-'ea clearance 13 between'fthelateral edge of the vrail hase and adjacent' surface of the jaw when the 'member A Vis first as'- sembled on theA rail. The membereiualso `munprises 'a downwardlyextentling foot 141,

which formed integrally with the plate and adapted to abut against a tie. For the purpose of adding strength to the Structure the foot 1l is provided\vith a riblfl, and the lip or jaw is provided with a cenrralljvv loe; ed rib 12f. Theplate 10 of the member A isadapted to extend beyondthe other edge l1" of therail base, and it has fernjied therein 'a slot-15, which extends longitudinally of the plate and transversely ,of the rail across the edge- 11b of the rail,

terminating-at its inner eiidin the Wall 15s,' and at its outerfcnd in the w'all 15"]4 The above described, may be formed by a punch and die from sheet metal and the like, the ribs 12a, 14?, the slot 15, and the jaw 12 being formed by methods well known in theiart. lll-"henA initially formed, the end of the plate opposite the jaw is` preferably given a slight upward inclination outwardly from a boundary ii1.

The jaw 'isgso constructed las'to dicated by the numeral 1G, this boundary being adapted to coincideapproximately with the lateral extremity of the -edge 11 ofthe rail base, as shownin-ig. 4, in which' ligure the initial positionl ofthe projecting ward inclination may oe imparted to the .wardlyl projecting end of the plate 10, if desired.

'l`he secondary or wedge member l of the rail anchor comprises a plate. having a notch or channel 17 formed therein' .which is adapted toengage and overlie the edge 1l" of the rail hase. The meml-rerl is adapted to tit within thev .slot'lr in the. member .AQ and the` portion 18 of said member whichunderlies the rail base is arranged to terminate short. of the wall 15n of the slot 15, to permit movement of the member B towardthe rail. The notch or channel 17 is preferably formed ofsuch dimensions as to leave a' clearance 19 betweeu'the verti` cally-extending wall of the channel-and the adjacent edge of the rail base when the member B is first assembled on the rail. The wedge member B further comprises a cam orwedgc surface 20,*w-hicll is adapted to coact with the wall 1.5 of the slot 15 when the projecting portion of'the plate is bent upwardly from 'the position indicated by dotted linesin 'Figli As the projecting portion of the plate is bent upwardlyabout the point 1*(3E which corresponds with the lower line or vedge of the rail base, the wall of -the slot will force the member B inwardly toward the rail, andyat t-he same time draw the member A transversely of the lrail in the directionindicated by the arrow '21. in Figd` thereby effecting a trz'insverse grippingr of the rail between the javali! and the. wedge member '13. This transverse gripping isefl'ected by reason of the increas" ing resistance offered by' the ram orwedge. surface 2() to the upward ,bending of the projecting portion of the member A; thisl cam surface. preferably being formed by a radius 22.v taken about the-center '22 located upwardly of the point "l, (see Fig. which point 23 correspomls substantially to the point or line 16, about which the bending movement of the plate takes place. when the. members A and B are lassembled on a rail. It will be seen that if; the'radius '23 be. talen about 23R the cam surface-would take the position indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 3 and 4, whereas by taking theV center about the point 22a' the. cam's'urface is formed so 'that the upper portions thereof are at gradually increasing distances from the point or line-16, about which the projecting portion'of the member A `is bent upt will be apparent that by varying the inclination of the cam surface 2Q, the gripping action of the members A and B may be. caused to increase 'in magnitude at any desired rate.

n Figs. (i and T I have illustrated another embodiment oit the main or wedge member. which is" l'rere designated by the' 'letter A'. The plate. 130 of this wedge member7 having the slot 15C therein, is originally formed from va blank with two oppositely disposed ears 31V on the sidesthereof, said ears being provided .with notches 32. ,This

blanic also comprises a lateral projection 33.

edge of the 'rail base. .The projection 33 is bent downwardly to Vform a foot 34a adapted to abut against a tie. AThis cohstruction illustrates one method by which the member A may be economicallyformed from sheet metal.

In lthe operation of the device; the mem; ber B is placed on the rail adjacent a-tie with the notch or channel 17 engaging the edge of therail base. The member A is then placed on the rail with fthe 'jaw '12 engaging the oppositel .edge'of the rail base, and the portion of themember'A opposite the jaw is'moved upwardly Eso as to pass the slot 15 into engagement with'the lower portion of the member B. At 'this point of the adjustment vthe-wall '15b of the* slot A15 will engage the lowerl prtion of the cam surface 20. Then,` upon bendingVv the projecting portion of the p-late'jrlO upwardly about the adjacent lowered'ge 16 :of-therail base,- the \vall.15b 'of the'slotl willjcoa'ctwith the. cam surface and force thefwedge member inwardly towardthe rail, while'at the same time drawing-the member` A tothe. left1 as shownby the arrow 21 in ,Fig` 4,-to'cause a firm transverse lgrippix'xgiof` the railV base.. T he projecting end of the plate 10 may be conveniently bent upwardly by means of a han'nner or maul. As this gripping takes place, .portions'fof the-clearance spaces 13 and 19A will be taken up bythe transverse nmvernents of the members of the anchor, so that the upwardbending oit the projecting portion of the main member may be continued untilothe desired degree ofV gripping action` is attained.' After being adjusted in position as described, it will be apparent that the'expansion, or movement ofthe rail in a direction opposite to that in which it normally tends to creep, will not cause a. disengagement ofv the' mainmembers A and B,.orv a relative movement of the same longitudinally of the rail.l v It will therefore` be'apparent lthatat'ert being assembled to exert a gripping action and prevent creeping of the rai'l,the members of the rail anchor will not,l require re-adjustment by virtue of accidental displacement? or by Yreason of the expansion or movement. of the rail.

The wedging surface 2O A`may be of any desired form or contour and in some instances it may be. preferable to provide the wedge member with a plurality ofserrationS.

justed relation ofthe main and secondary'.

members. v v

This improved rail anchor has the advantage that itmay be cheaply formed from 1 sheet metal, or the like, if desired, although it may be formed in other ways, and that it exerts a firm and continuous ellicient gripping action after-being adjusted on the rail without danger of displacement therefrom, or without requiring re-adjustment at suc'- cessive intervals thereafter.

Although I havel shown particular embodiments of the invention for purposes of illustration1 it will be understood that it may be constructed -in various dilerent forms without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

l'Vhat I claim is: f

1. A rail anchor domprising two members,

one of said members being adapted to abutagainst a tie, said members having coacting wedging surfaces, one of said members being adapted to be bent thereby causing movement of the wedging surface thereon to effect a gripping of the rail.

Q. A rail anchor comprising two members, one of Saidmembers having a part adapted to abut against. a tie, said members having coacting surfaces preventing relative movement'of said members' in a direction longitudinally of the rail but permitting relative movement of said members transverselyof the rail, parts of said surfaces having a wed'ging engagement transversely ofthe railwhereby movementof part 'of one of said members in a plane transverse of the rail Y- said members to be wedged together togrip Vcauses Saidmembers to'be wedged together to grip the rail transversely.

3. A rail anchor comprising two members, one of saidmembers having a part .adapted tp ahnt .against a tie, said members having coacting surfaces preventing relative movement of said members in a direction longitu-v dinally of the rail -but'p'ermitting relative movement of said members transversely of -the rail, parts offjsa'id .surfaces having .a wedging engagement transversely of the rail' .whereby bending of partof one of said members in a plane'transverse of the vrail causes the rail transversely.

,4. A. rail anchor comprising a member adapted to lie beneath and engage one edge of a rail base and to abut against a tie, and a second member adapted tot engage the other edgel of said rail base', said first-named member having a part adapted to be bentl upwardly aboutsaid last-named'edge of said rail base to coact with said second-named member and thereby effect a'transverse gripping of the said rail base.

5. A rail anchor comprising.A a A memberv adapted to lie beneath and engine-gev one edge 'of a rail base and to abut against Aa tie, said member having a vslottherein extending-i7() transversely of said rail, and aggcondfmem-i ber adapted to engage'said slot andtocoact with the other edge of said-rail base,saidv second member having'a` Surface 4 with VA' which a wall of said-slotgcoaetswhen the end of said rst-named"member is'bentu wardly about said lastnamed'edge fsaid rail base, whereby a transverse glrlppingbf- `the rail'base is effected; i s l In testimony whereof, I have "subscribed Illy Iltllle. HENRY Gt EnrBoRG. 

